


Balancing the Drift

by Griselda_Gimpel



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Drift Bond (Pacific Rim), Drift Compatibility (Pacific Rim), F/M, M/M, Multi, Telepathic Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29704968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griselda_Gimpel/pseuds/Griselda_Gimpel
Summary: Jake, Nate, and Jules test a new bit of drift technology. In the process, they get to know each other better.
Relationships: Nate Lambert/Jake Pentecost/Jules Reyes
Kudos: 4
Collections: Black Is Beautiful 2021





	Balancing the Drift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CypressSunn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CypressSunn/gifts).



Test Station 3H was located outside of Anchorage, Alaska, and no one could get in or out. This was because the station was thoroughly snowed in and would be for the next week at least. That was fine. Jake, Nate, and Jules had plenty of supplies and a task set before them.

It was called the Neural Load Equalizer, and their job was to test it. If it worked as intended, the NLE would allow anyone to drift with anyone else regardless of innate drift compatibility. The trio had been chosen to test it because while Jake and Nate were drift compatible, Jules would be a new element to the drift. The NLE was supposed to be able to use Jake and Nate’s link to then fill in whatever blanks were missing such that they would link up with Jules, as well. If Jake and Nate could get their drift with Jules to stabilize, it would be the first step toward getting the NLE into regular use.

The NLE looked like a filing cabinet sized hunk of metal with three padded chairs attached. There was a helmet that lowered down over the head of each chair. If there were any issues, Dr. Hermann Gottlieb was in the next room to intervene. There was a glass window between the command room and the test room, so he’d be able to watch them, as well. Dr. Gottlieb would also be the one to examine the data if the NLE didn’t work as intended. Debugging, after all, was seldom work completed in a single afternoon.

“So, I’m going to see your memories when we drift?” Jules asked. She wasn’t afraid, but nerves were making her a little jumpy. Wielding a wrench involved a different set of skills than forming a telepathic bond.

“You’re going to live them,” Nate told her.

“More than just memories,” Jake added, nodding in agreement. “You’re going to feel what we feel.”

“I might get your sexual fantasies about me, you’re saying?” Jules teased.

“Or about Nate,” Jake remarked placidly.

Nate nodded. “Some of them are pretty flattering. It’s why I keep him around.” Jake gave him a good-natured shove and then chuckled.

“Ready?” Dr. Gottlieb’s voice came over the intercom system.

Jake waved at him, and then the three testers took their respective seats. They lowered the helmets over their heads and then each gave Dr. Gottlieb the thumbs up sign. In the command room, Dr. Gottlieb turned the NLE on.

The three testers felt their stomachs lurch like they were on a rollercoaster. They ceased to see the room in front of them and instead saw inside each other’s heads.

~~~

“Balance! I said, balance!” shouted the ballet instructor.

Jules’ leg ached as she continued to lean forward. She was balanced on her left foot. He right arm was reached behind her to hold her right ankle. Her left arm was stretched out in front of her. That was also beginning to hurt.

“I’m balanced,” Jules grunted and the wobbled. With gritted teeth, she stilled herself.

“Acceptable,” the ballet instructor said. “Now, lift your heel off of the ground.”

Jules attempted to comply and promptly fell over. Thankfully, she was standing on a mat. The ballet instructor helped her to her feet and then gave her a sympathetic look.

“Not everyone is cut out for the stage. Perhaps your talents lay elsewhere?”

A crushing wave of defeat overwhelmed Jules.

~~~

_Those aren’t your memories, Jules!_

~~~

Jake was sitting the classroom. It was a beautiful summer day out, but he couldn’t afford to focus on that. The teacher was about to return their scored tests. It wasn’t a usual test. This test would determine if he would be able to join the gifted class at the start of the next school year.

The teacher walked through the rows of the desks, laying papers face down in front of the hopeful students. It wasn’t a full class, just those who’d stayed after a week prior to take the test and who had now stayed after again to receive their scores.

Jake flipped his over, and his face fell as he considered the score. It was three points too low for him to get into the class. He’d only be able to be in the advanced class, rather than the gifted one. He clenched the paper in his hand, and his eye caught the name at the top.

Nathan Lambert.

His mind swam to the surface, and he remembered that theses weren’t his memories. He mentally reached out for Nate’s mind.

~~~

_You there, only-advanced-but-not-gifted boy?_

~~~

Nate was thinking in Spanish, which was strange, as he did not speak Spanish. Nevertheless, when words drifted through his mind that he did not know, the associated mental picture was something he could understand. When he thought the word _abuela_ , the image of grandmother was associated with it. When he thought the word _Nochebuena_ , his mind was filled with memories of a holiday celebration on December 24th. And when he thought the word _flan_ , the taste of sweet custard seemed to fill his mouth.

Currently the word at the top of his mind was _desesperación_ as he stared inside of the oven. Within the oven was an aluminum bath and floating in the water of the bath was a ceramic dish. Within that dish was supposed to be the flan, but rather than have a spongy consistency, the flan was a liquid. It had started out as a liquid when Nate had put it in the oven, but the heat was supposed to change that. It wasn’t supposed to still be liquid!

He consulted the cook time and confirmed that he’d followed that exactly. Then his eyes swept back up over the ingredients, checking he hadn’t mixed up the proportions of condensed milk with the proportions of sweetened milk. It all looked to be correct, so why was his flan all wrong?

Nate mused, in English this time, that it was probably because he’d never made flan before. His sense of identity returned to him, and he sought out Jake’s mind.

~~~

_Do you have Jules?_

~~~

Jules felt like she was falling…falling…falling. There was a whirl, and suddenly she perceived Jake and Nate falling next to her. She reached for them. There was the mental sensation of their fingers brushing, and then her stomach lurched, and she was jerked off to the side.

~~~

“You all okay?” Dr. Gottlieb asked after he turned off the NLE.

“What happened?” Jake asked as he removed his helmet. Beside him, Nate and Jules did the same.

“First test was a bust,” Dr. Gottlieb answered. “Still, the test data you three generated should prove most useful. If you three want to break for the day, I’ll look this over and see what adjustments need to be made before we have another go.”

“We’re snowed in,” Nate pointed out.

“Play charades or something.”

The three of them left through the door in the back, heading to the break room to grab refreshments.

“Shame we don’t have an oven in here,” Nate said. “I’m craving Chicha, um, Chicha- the pork skin thingy!”

“Chicharrón,” Jules corrected. “And we’d need a pig for that. Our supplies don’t have anything so fancy. So, which one of you was the ballerina?”

“Jake,” Nate said immediately.

“Ballerino,” Jake corrected. “A male ballet performer is a ballerino.”

“Why ballet?” Jules asked.

“Dad could do a lot of things, but dance point wasn’t one of them. Wanted to do my own thing, you know? Unfortunately, I was terrible at it.”

“Better than me,” Nate told him. He’d drifted with Jake enough to be familiar with the memory in question.

“It was painful,” Jules said. “Sexual fantasies would have been preferable.”

“We do have time before the next test,” Jake pointed out. Nate draped his arm over Jake’s shoulders. Jules grinned and then gave them each a kiss.

“That we do,” Jules agreed.


End file.
